Justice League/Power Rangers Issue 5
Issue 5 is the penultimate issue of the six part crossover, Justice League/Power Rangers. Synopsis The Justice League and the Power Rangers have arrived in the Rangers’ home dimension, but the heroes of these two worlds are too late to prevent Angel Grove’s shocking fate. With the Earth now on the chopping block, can these teams come together to undo the damage wrought by Zedd and Brainiac?Comixology Plot At NATO HQ in Brussels, Belgium, the world leaders are trying to make sense of the recent disappearance of Angel Grove and the attacks on major cites. Wonder Woman enters the room to try and explain what is going on, but the leaders try to have security apprehend her and shoot her. Both fail as Diana calmly walks toward the podium and effortlessly drags the guards along as they try to hold her down and she deflects the bullet fired at her using her bracelets. She explains who she is but the leaders do not recognize a country called "Themyscira" and do not acknowledge her as a diplomatic representative. She brings in Jason, Kimberly and Tommy who are in their borrowed gear to back her up and the Power Rangers explain what is going on and that to stop Brainiac and Lord Zedd they need support from the military. Wonder Woman uses her skills in diplomacy to convince the leaders to rally behind them in support. She then contacts the Flash to ask if he as found Lord Zedd, who is on his eleventh lap around the Power Ranger's Earth and has not seen him, only to then run into an army of monsters controlled by him with Lord Zedd right in front of him. Zedd contacts Brainiac to begin the assault on Earth, with Brainiac deploying thousands of drones from his ship. Green Lantern tries to intercept them and thin the advancing drone forces by engaging them while trying to get a hold of the team on the ship tasked with retrieving Angel Grove. In the aftermath of what happened in the previous issue, Billy stands in shock at the fact he stabbed the Brainiac controlled Cyborg. Superman demands an explanation, but soon Brainiac reactivates Cyborg despite his internal damage and tries to resume his attack on the heroes. Superman holds the possessed Cyborg down while Batman uses his secret JLA counteroffensive knowledge to work on Cyborg's internal systems to reboot Victor Stone's consciousness back into his body and kick Brainiac out. Superman is a bit angry Batman has this knowledge, as it is hinted by Batman that Victor does not know he knows how to reboot or shut him down nor had his consent in obtaining this info. Batman crosses a few wires to short Brainiac's presence out of Victor's head and then restarts Victor's electronic parts to "wake" him up. Cyborg is surprised he has a large hole in his chest and Billy apologizes and notes that during his attack he did try to avoid vital organs and internal components to keep Cyborg alive. Cyborg is also upset when Billy tells him that Batman rebooted him by accessing his systems, showing concern for how the Dark Knight knew about his inner workings. Trini defuses the tension by saying that isn't important right now as they need to retrieve Angel Grove, leave the ship and regroup with the other team to stop Brainiac. Upon entering the collection room of bottled cites, Zack finds Angel Grove and Trini feels guilt for leaving the other cites trapped on board the ship. Superman reassures her that these cites belong in their universe and the Guardians of Oa and Green Lantern Corps. will help the JLA restore them to their proper places or relocate them to new homes. Batman says they have no time to save the cities right now, as Brainiac's forces are beginning their assault on Earth. Cyborg mentions that while his mind was interfaced to Brainiac, he saw what he saw and there is another on board the ship with him: Alpha 5. Brainiac is interacting with Alpha as Lord Zedd allowed the robot to live long enough to be studied by the Coluan, fascinated by speaking with another "binary creature who has achieved sentience". Brainiac is baffled as to why a superior intelligence such as Alpha 5 would want to side with inferior humans. Alpha simply states it is because he wants to. Brainiac finds that explanation flawed in logic. However, Alpha defends his response by stating his friends are good people and it is not wrong to feel empathy for organic life, even though technically machines cannot feel. He then chastises Brainiac's approach to obtaining knowledge by capturing cities and destroying entire worlds to make the knowledge more valuable, as once this task is complete, there is nothing left to gain. Alpha calls out Brainiac on his selfishness, as thinking only of his own directive is not sentience, as he will be completely alone in the universe. Alpha values the camaraderie of his friends as something precious and serving helpful causes greater than one's self as noble. As Alpha explains this, Kimberly, Jason, Tommy and Wonder Woman are defending NATO HQ from Brainiac's drones and Superman goes to rescue Alpha at Trini's request while Zack, Batman and Billy take Angel Grove and head back to the Javelin. Alpha continues explaining that by imprisoning individuals and robbing them of a future, Brainiac only has a "snapshot" of what that civilization is, not what it could achieve in social growth or technical advancement through the passage of time. By imprisoning the cities, he has robbed them of the ability to progress and have hope. Alpha then comments that humans as a species have so much potential to grow and is "full of surprises". Superman bursts in to save Alpha, only for Brainiac to grab the Man of Steel by his neck and draws a kryptonite dagger blade from a ship storage compartment in an attempt to kill him. But Brainiac is stabbed from behind by a sword, his arm holding Superman is sliced off by Zack's Power Axe and Trini decapitates him with her Power Daggers. Batman catches Brainiac's kryptonite dagger as it falls and then stores it in his utility belt when no one is looking, annoyed and incredulous that they risked their lives to "save a robot". Batman helps Superman up and carries him back to the Javelin while Cyborg's sensors indicate that Brainiac will regenerate his body soon and they need to leave. Billy thinks they could use Brainiac's arm for something and asks Cyborg to place it in a firewall containment field to prevent it from regenerating. The Javelin heads to Brussels to reinforce Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and the other Rangers as Superman returns the Dragon, Tyrannosaurus and Pterodactyl Power Coins to their rightful owners. Tommy, Kimberly and Jason morph into their Ranger forms and both teams reunite. Tommy is overjoyed to see Alpha 5 again and Trini informs Jason that Angel Grove is safe and Billy has a theory that could defeat Brainiac and restore Angel Grove to its proper size using the Coluan's technology. The Rangers still cannot summon their Zords as Brainiac could take control of them like last time. Zedd tries to use a growing bomb to enlarge a lizard monster to crush the JLA and the Power Rangers, but the Flash catches it with his super speed just in time and punches the lizard monster so hard it is knocked out. The Flash gives the bomb to Alpha 5 and tell him to protect it. Brainiac approaches him from behind. He then tells him that he will take Zedd's growth bomb from him, in which Alpha refuses. Brainiac states that he does not plan on destroying Alpha, as he plans on keeping him, but says that he will kill him if he frustrates him further. Alpha states that he understands why Brainiac has no friends and wants to keep him, but he won't stand for Brainiac threatening his friends, their home, and their families. Brainiac tells Alpha that he doesn't have a choice. Throwing the Zedd bomb to the ground, it explodes. It not only turns Zedd's monster into a giant, but Alpha grows as well. He states that he does have a choice, saying that he chooses to fight for something much bigger than himself. He then uppercuts the monster in the jaw, his fist sinking into the monster's flesh. This sets the stage up for the final battle in the next issue. Errors *''to be added'' Notes *Alpha is captured by Brainiac, and uses one of Lord Zedd's growth bombs, becoming the size of a Megazord. Brainiac reveals that Alpha is very similar to him as well. *If this crossover ties in to the show's continuity, this is the only known instance in which Alpha 5 actually fights in traditional hand-to-hand combat as the last panel indicates, in this case against one of Lord Zedd's monsters.